Credit

Caption

San Francisco earthquake. Workers in front of the ruins of Santa Rosa City Hall, following the large earthquake that occurred on the San Andreas fault on 18 April 1906. The epicentre, some 80 kilometres south of Santa Rosa, was just off the coast of the city of San Francisco, California, USA. The earthquake was one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the USA. Most of the damage and deaths were in San Francisco, but other areas also received severe damage. Up to a minute of severe shaking destroyed buildings, and violent shocks were felt from Oregon to Los Angeles, and inland as far as central Nevada. This photograph, now in the Karl V. Steinbrugge Collection, was originally published in the report by the State Earthquake Investigation Commission (1908-10).